Impact rotary steam-motor



(No Model.)

W. H. WILLEY.

IMPACT ROTARY STEAM MOTOR.

No. 530,375. Patentedv Dec. 4, 1894..

y. [UNIT-ED 4-STATIEJS ,PATENT l'()IFICIa i WILLIAM H. WILLEY, OF SANTAMONICA, CALIFORNIA.

IM PACT ROTARY ,STEAM-M OTO a.

SPECIFICATION forming am of Letters Patent No. 530,375, dared December4, 1894.

. Application filed January 29, 1894. Serial No. 498,416. (No model.)

y To all whom it may conceru` .illustrating my invention.

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. WILLEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Santa Monica, in the county of Los Angeles and State ofCalifornia, have invented an Impact Rotary Steam-Motor, of which thefollowing is a specication. i

My invention is more especially adapted for use' with an electricdynamo,butis applicable for all purposes to which power may be appliedbut especially in cases where high speed can be economically employed.The object of my invention is to provide a rotary motor which will beoperated economically and practically without friction by the impact ofa steamjet. i

`The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure l is aV fragmental perspective view Fig. 2 isa vertical sectiontransversethe axis ofthe motor. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail of oneofthe l to the exhaust port a2.'

wings of the rotaryy Inotor showing the pressnre relief valve. Eig. Llisa fragmental view showing a modification of my invention, in

which a relief groove bs is provided to allow from the inlet the escapeof steam pressure My invention comprises the combination oftheinclosingcase A which has the circular rotary-piston chamber A', one ormore steam inlets a a arranged substantially tan-,

gential to the circular chamber to discharge steam thereinto, a steamoutletor exhaust a arranged substantially inv linejwith the inwarddischarge or jet from thesteam inletor supply port but deflected from'such line to correspond with the deflection of the steam caused by therotation of the rotary piston `within the chamber to allow, practically,the direct escape of the injected steam, so that the impact of the steamacting upon thefarms 1 or wings b of the rotarypiston `B willv causethe' ,rotation ofsuch' arms or wings respecty; ively between the inletand exhaust and Tthe,"y steam will be discharged freely through the iif-exhaust. with only such deiection from a right line as may benecessary to producethe, best effects.`` The piston-B provided with thepiston wings?) each of which has a valved port arranged to allow theescape of steam inlowing jet of steam and the rotation of the rotarypiston. y d

j In practiceit is` advisable to provide the motor with two or moreinlets a a and two exhausts a a2 so thatthe steam may be applied to thepiston on opposite sides of the axisthereof, thus to avoid strain uponthe bearings `and to double the power without increasing the expense. Afurther advantage is that the backward escape of steam through thevalves b finds exhaust within about one third of the circle of rotationand therefore will escape more freely than where the escape of suchsteam pressure would be through the exhaust a which is arranged for thepracti`- cally direct discharge of the jet of steam which is operatingthe `rotary motor-that is to say if" but oneexhaust is employed thesteam pressure would have to escapebackward through nearly all of thevalves b and finally discharge from the discharge a whichwold retard'the escape ofsteam in starting, but by employing two exhausts a a2 thesame maybe arranged so that the back pressure will be discharged soonerthan otherwise.

"The wings or arms b of the rotary motor fitfnicely within the circularchamber Aso as -to'be practically steam tight,`and the same are arranged"soas to avoid any undue fricd In the drawings I have shown a rotarypiston havingsixwings, as I believe `the same to be most advantageous, agreater number being unnecessary for two ports and t-wo exhaustsandwould increase the friction, while a smaller nnmber `will not -givethelatitilde for arrangement of the two inlet and discharge ports whichI-prefer. rlthe inlet and dischargel ports a a are so arrangedwith rewill at any time interpose between rthe inlet V lation to the rotarypiston thatbut onewing i port a and-the outlet or exhaust port athat isto `say the space between the inlet and its outlet port does not exceedthespace `between two wings. In case more inlet ports and-exhaust portsare employed, the number offans or wings must be proportioned tothenumber of ports. A' i The valvewhich Ihave shown comprises the valveport p and the spring valve o ari" ranged closing against the impactface b of the wing b, to close the port p againstthe passage of steam.in the direction of rotation kss but toallow the escape of steam in adirection opposite to that of rotation.

By my invention I am enabled to dispense with the use of movable partswhich will develop friction, or which would cause the motor to becomeinoperative or less effective if run at a high rate of speed, and forthis reason my new motor may be run advantageously connected direct tomachinery which is adapted to run at a high rate of speed thus avoidingthe friction and wear which is present where the engine must be gearedup to give the desired speed to the machinery. v

In practice the operation is as follows:- The steam is admitted throughthe port a and strikes upon the wing b which is between the inlet port aand thelexhaust port a' The direct escape of the steam to the exhaust ais thus intercepted by the wing b and its valve b. This tends to createa steam pressure within the space between the wing above mentioned andthe one immediately back of it but thesteam escapes backward through thevalves in the several wings which interpose between the inlet a and theexhaust a2 and thus escapes through the exhaust a2. The impact of thesteam upon the wing b which is in the path of the jet is thus allowed tooverbalance the pressure of the steam on the wings intervening betweenthe exhaust a2 and the piston is thus caused to rotate in the directionof the jet and of the dotted arrow in Fig.,2. When the piston has thusbegun to rotate it brings the wing which hadbeen interposed between theinlet a and outlet a below such outlet and thus allows the steam toescape through such outlet a but in the meantime-the next rearward winghas been brought into position to receive the impact of the steam jetand is operated upon the jet and is thus driven to continue the rotationof the piston. This rotation becomes more and more rapid until the inletand discharge of the steam is practically in a right line from the inletport a to the exhaust port ya. The escape of steam through'thevalves boccurs only at the beginning of the operation of the motor. The rotarypiston and its power transmitting connectionsy (not shown) are to besoarranged as to allow such a rate of rotationof the piston as to preventany pressure of steam between the wings of the rotating piston. Thisavoids backward escape of steam through the valves when the motor isrunning.

It will thusl be seen that the steam ports p which are provided in thevalves b formin conjunction with each other a steam passage .leadingfrom the inlet port to the exhaust, and'` that when the steam dischargedfrom the `inlet port strikes upon avalve the port is thereby closedtightly and the wings which 4fit closely within the case between theAinlet .and exhaust thus intercepts all of the steam and; retainstheforce thereof until such wing,

.reaches the exhaust, when the steam is then ward to the exhaust a2.

free to escape in practically the same line in which itis injected intothe piston chamber.

The valve spring c is preferably made of steel or some other exibleelastic material which will effectually close the port p against theimpact of the steam but willvallow the steam pressure to escape when thepiston is being started to rotate.

In Fig. 4 I have shown a modilication of the means'for allowing thesteam pressure to escape.

This means consists of a groove b3 which is 'cut in the wall of thepiston chamber and extends from the inlet port a back- This groovepermits escape of the steam backward to the exhaust in somewhat the samemanner in which the same is permitted to escape by the valves b andwhile I claim specically the peculiar arrangements of the valve which Ihave described, I do not desire my invention to be limited to anyparticular means of. permitting the escape of the pressure from thepiston chamber when the motor is being started. While myimprovedmotoris'speciallyadapted for steam it is to be understood thatcompressed air or gas may be used to furnish the motive power to drive:`the motorif desired. A stuffing box D is arranged one upon each sidey ofthe case A surrounding the shaft D of the motor to prevent the escape ofsteam from the cylinder chamber. But one stuffing box is shown in thedrawings but it will be understood that another one is arranged upon theother side of thecase. l

. Now having described my invention, wha

I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. A rotarymotor comprising. the inclosing case having the circular rotary pistonchamber, a steam inlet arranged substantially tangential to: the.circular chamber to discharge steam thereinto, a steam outlet or exhaustarranged substantially in line with the inward discharge or jet from thesteam inlet but deected from such line to correspond with the deliection of thesteam caused by the rotation of the piston within thechamber to allow, practically, the direct escape of the injected steam,and the rotary piston arranged in such chamber, providedwith thewingsarranged to fit closely inthe case between the inlet and theexhaust, andprovided with a relief escape passage leading backward from the inlet tothe exhaust, substantially asand for the purpose setr forth.

2; The rotary motor set forth comprising the case having the. circularrotary piston chamber,y two steam inlets arrangedsubstan- `tiallytangential to the circular chamber to discharge steam thereinto inopposite directionsandfuponopposite sides thereof; two exhausts eacharranged substantially in line with itsrespective inlet but deiiectedtherefrom to correspond tothe deiiection of the ,steam caused yby therotation of the piston within the chamber to allow, practicallyfthe.direct escape of the steam the rotary piston IOO arranged in suchchamber and provided with the Wings arranged 4to it closely Within thechamber to intercept the passage of steam between each inlet and itsrespective exhaust,

and suitable pressure relief passages leading backward from andcommunicating respectively between each inlet and the exhaust of theother inlet.

o 3. The rotary motor set forth comprising the case having the `circularrotary piston chamber; two steaminlets arranged substantially tangentialto the' circular chamber to discharge steam thereintoin oppositedirections and upon opposite sides thereof; two

exhausts each arranged substantially in line with its respective inletsbut deflected therefrom to correspond to the deflection of thesteamcaused by the rotation of the piston within the chamber to allow,practically, the direct escape of the steam; the rotary piston arrangedin such chamber and provided with asteam inlet arranged to dischargetangentially into such chamber, and providedwith 3o a rotary pistonhaving wings adapted to t practically steam tight in such chamber, eachof such wings` being provided with a relief port anda valve arrangedupon the impact face of such wing to receive the impact of the steam jetand to close such port.

5. The rotary motor set forth comprising the case provided with thecircular rotary piston chamber, the steam inlet arranged substantiallytangential to the circular chamber to discharge steam thereinto, a steamoutlet or exhaust arranged substantially in line with the inwarddischarge or jet from the steam inlet; the rotary piston arranged insuch chamber and provided with the wings, each of such wings having adischarge port arranged to pass through the path of the discharge jet,anda spring valve arranged to be operated upon by the impact `of thesteam jet to close such port during theimpact of thesteam jet 5othereupon.

W. H. WILLEY.

. Witnesses: y JAMES R. ToWNsEND,

ALFRED I. ToWNsEND.

